(Ethan POV)
A long sigh escaped his mouth.
The experiment had ended in a complete failure, no matter what they tried Elin's Offering skill refused to co-operate.
Ethan: (I guess divinity takes longer time to regenerate than mana. Or is there a reason the skill isn't activating?)
That seemed like the only option left, but a certain unease lingered in the back of his mind.
Ethan: (A skill malfunction... Didn't something like this happen before?)
His thoughts drifted to a certain memory.
The forest. The only time Mana blast dissipated. Back then he didn't pay much attention to it because of the situation.
The idea that skills could fail sparked new possibilities.
Ethan: (I should test it out.)
Dylan: "ARE YOU COMING?"
A familiar voice suddenly interrupted his train of thought.
His mind snapped back to reality as he finally realised he was alone in the house.
Ethan: "Ugh–"
The lights clicked off one by one.
A groan escaped him as he rushed towards the entrance, nearly tripping as he put on his shoe.
Ethan: (Where is my other–)
Ethan: "..Oh, right."
The shoe, the sacrifice.
Outside the gate Dylan and Elin waited, patiently.
Well, at least Elin was patient. Dylan looked pretty annoyed.
Ethan: "Ya, sorry my bad. I got lost in thought again."
Dylan: (Seems like he's still stressed.)
Ethan: "I want to test a few things out first."
Dylan: "Fine."
A faint reluctance crept into his voice.
Ethan walked towards the corpses, investigating the area.
Green blood stained the pavement and limbs littered the streets. An odd stench in the air made him question his decision. The disgusting sight didn't faze him a bit.
Ethan: (I guess there goes my shoe.)
RIP soldier, gone but not forgotten.
His gaze landed on a severed arm.
Ethan: (This will do.)
Pulling out a handkerchief, he carefully picked up a severed goblin arm by the finger. Green blood dripped from the flesh like a wet towel.
He walked back with grotesque piece of flesh, keeping it as far away as possible.
Elin's mind clicked as she took a step back.
Ethan: "You know the drill."
Elin: "Nuh uh, no way."
She physically recoiled with disgust, her arms behind her back and her eyes begging to be spared as the severed arm dangled between them.
Elin: "Absolutely not."
Elin: (I am not touching that thing!)
Dylan watched their exchange in silence.
Dylan: (Is there something special about the arm?)
Ethan: "Come on, I know it's ugly I don't want to do it as much as you do. We need the data."
Elin: "You need therapy."
A valid point.
Her gaze drifted towards Dylan. Images of the recent fight flooded her mind.
Elin: (Compared to what he did...)
A guilty sigh followed.
Elin: "Fine."
She begrudgingly extended her arm, slowly touching the flesh by the finger.
Elin: "Offering."
A bright yellow light shattered the darkness as Jesus began to decend and I am just kidding, of course nothing happened, what did you expect?
After an anticlimactic result she immediately withdrew her hand.
Elin: "I am not doing this again."
Ethan: "Welp."
The arm was yeeted into oblivion never to be seen, the handkerchief followed soon after.
Ethan: (No way I am ever using that handkerchief ever again.)
Ethan: "There goes the last theories out the window. I now have no clue on how to activate this skill except wait for the divinity to regenerate."
Elin: "Figured."
Her shoulders slumped.
Elin: (Why did I get such a complicated skill?)
Dylan: "You will figure it out eventually."
Ethan: "And I will really look stupid when she does."
Dylan: "Well, let's start heading towards the police station now."
Ethan: "There is another thing I wanted to test out."
Dylan: (?)
Dylan: "Fine... Take your time."
Ethan turned towards the corpses, raising his hand.
Ethan: "Mana blast."
Blue particles began gathering in front of his palm, like tiny fragments of light gathered together forming the familiar sphere.
Ethan: (30 seconds.)
He swiped his arm towards his right but suprisingly the sphere stood still. Charging in the same spot.
Ethan: (What?)
He continued swaying his arm around but the sphere stayed in place, ignoring him.
Ethan: (You're kidding, I can't even change the fucking DIRECTION!)
His hand retracted in embarrassment.
Ethan: (The deeper I dig the worse it gets.)
He narrowed his eyes, holding his chin with one hand.
Unfortunately for Dylan another idea appeared.
Ethan: (Maybe this can act like a landmine.)
He took a couple steps back, and tossed a random unfortunate rock towards the skill.
The rock passed right through without any resistance.
For a second confusion filled his face.
Ethan: (Did I miss?.... No that was definitely a hit.)
Walking closer, he cautiously reached out. His fingers slipping right through the skill.
Ethan: (Of course. Why would any of my ideas even work?)
His hand swaved in and out of the sphere. It felt like... Nothing.
If someone wasn't looking at it directly they wouldn't ever know that a skill is changing up.
Ethan: (I wonder how far away I can be when this is charging.)
Ethan began walking backwards a step at a time.
One step. Nothing.
Two step. Nothing.
Three, four, five. Nothing.
Ethan: (Is it infinite?)
A sharp pain suddenly intrupted his train of thoughts.
The skill fizzled out, disappearing into the night.
The pain vanished as quickly as it came.
Ethan: (I guess the range is 5 meters.)
At least one of his question had a proper answer.
His gaze shifted towards the empty space where the skill was activated.
Ethan: (Then why did it disappear on the tree?)
The memory refused to leave his mind. The feeling of missing something creeped up as if he had overlooked something important.